This series of works is selected from 《Muslims  of  Arid  Soil》, an album by photographer Li Fan.Located on the Loess Plateau, Tongxin County of Ningxia features undulating hills, ravines and highly complex landforms. The region is arid with little rainfall and chronically short of water. Almost every household digs a water cellar in its courtyard, relying entirely on storing occasional rain and snow bestowed by nature to make a living.The journey to fetch water is long and arduous. On rugged, parched loess slopes, one often sees staggering figures of people and livestock carrying water loads. Water is cherished and economized to the utmost here: a basin of turbid clear water is repeatedly used—first for washing faces and vegetables, then finally poured into troughs to feed thirsty flocks of sheep.Today, as local residents of Tongxin have relocated one after another, these once-familiar scenes are gradually fading away with the passage of time.